Transformation of Sympathies: Gendered Mediation of Jordanian Education Reform for a Knowledge Economy
[Thesis]
Rebecca McLain Hodges
Bowen, John
Washington University in St. Louis
2015
224
Committee members: Gustafson, Bret; McManus, Anne-Marie; Thomas, Kedron; Wertsch, James
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-339-09405-2
Ph.D.
Anthropology
Washington University in St. Louis
2015
In Jordan, teaching is widely considered "the best job for a woman" because it is accommodating and culturally appropriate for a wife and mother. Public secondary schools and comprehensive (K-12) schools in Jordan are predominantly gender-segregated, with female teachers and staff serving as models of professionalism and womanhood for generations of young girls. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan faces rising youth unemployment and pressures for democratization, and has responded with the explicitly transformational Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy (ERFKE) to overhaul the centralized public education system. ERFKE's curricular goals include multilingualism, technological fluency, democratic participation, cooperation and teamwork, critical thinking, and entrepreneurship. The rollout of ERFKE relies on teaching educators and staff new ways of thinking about women's identities in the present and potential future of a democratizing monarchy.
Ethics; Education; Middle Eastern Studies
Philosophy, religion and theology;Social sciences;Education;Education reform;Gender studies;Islam;Jordan;Knowledge economy;Teacher education